Samuel Youngs (1760-1839)

Samuel Youngs, who lived from 1760 to 1839, was the first person interred in Dale Cemetery in 1851 after General Aaron Ward, Dale’s first president, transferred his remains from the Old Dutch Church cemetery in North Tarrytown, now Sleepy Hollow, New York. Service in the American cause was a family tradition for Youngs and his father Joseph, both of whom served in the Revolutionary War. The family farm at Four Corners in Mount Pleasant served as headquarters and barracks from 1776 until 1780 and was the site of the Affair at Youngs's House, a notable battle in which the farm buildings were burned and more than 15 Patriots were lost. Youngs served as a Westchester Guide under Colonel Aaron Burr, escorting troops through the back trails of Philipse Manor, then under Captain Requa, and later as a lieutenant under Colonel Frederick Weissenfels. After the war, he taught school briefly while studying law, then built a successful legal practice and helped many veterans file petitions for war pensions, preserving valuable information about how Westchester militias formed at the time. He later served as Westchester County Surrogate and in the State Assembly, lived his final years in Tarrytown, and became part of local lore as a possible model for Washington Irving’s Ichabod Crane, though recent research suggests the character was an amalgamation of different people.

Ossining, New York · United States